Our first Book of the Week this week reboots traditional lost folk tales in a hugely engaging way. Adam Murphy's sublime "Lost Tales"...

Somewhere in a distant galaxy, an intrepid crew are on an extended mission to explore the furthest reaches of space - in a spaceship shaped exactly like a cute cuddly ginger moggy. These are the voyages of STAR CAT!

We love hokey science fiction, we love rudey bits, we love Captain Spaceington's weekly misadventures in The Phoenix Comic so being able to dive into a sumptuous slice of the collected strips is sheer nectar for the eyeballs.

Captain Spaceington, along with his green and gooey (and equally cowardly and inept) First Officer Plixx, his totally ace and unfathomable moggy pilot (!*&£%&@!), and Robot-1 (possibly the only robot ever designed to wee himself at the slightest sign of danger) constantly aim to thwart the villanious Dark Rectangle at every turn.

James delves deep into various science fiction influences, taking a cheeky poke at Star Trek, Star Wars and even Zardoz (we're guessing that Captain Spaceington's rather revealing costume in one adventure can only be a nod to Sean Connery's giant nappy suit in the aforementioned film - hah you thought you'd slipped that one by us, didn't you?)

We've said many times on the blog that we love anything that causes us to snort like little piggies with giggles and laughter, and Star Cat achieves that with ease. A heady mix of abject chaos and high-tech entertainment courtesy of possibly the only spaceship ever created that can lick its own tailpipe clean.

"Star Cat - Volume 1" by James Turner arrives in a galactic quadrant near you on 2nd October 2014 courtesy of David Fickling Publishing.

Charlotte's best bit: With an insane cackle of glee, Charlotte took great delight in pointing out Captain Spaceington's dot-boobies when he loses his groovy spacesuit. EEP!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Constantly snorting with laughter at cat-pilot's (mostly) indecipherable but hilarious comic asides

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books / Awesome Phoenix folk!)

It's the third of July and lots of lovely books are publishing today but this one is something rather special. It caused Charlotte's teacher to raise her eyebrows so far that they almost hovered quite comically in mid air. It caused Charlotte's mum a few extra worry lines too (I'm not sure Mummy is sold on the idea of comics but is gradually being won round), but of course the pair of us attacked it with gleeful cackles of delight because we already love Adam Murphy's fantastic "Corpse Talk" strip in The Phoenix Comic.

So what's the setup here? Well, imagine what would happen if Parky went down to the local graveyard armed with a spade and (quite literally) dug up a few undead guests for his show. Corpse Talk's intrepid sometimes hysterical historical expert Adam Murphy does just this, roaming the world to interview the long-dead greatest figures in history.

From Einstein to Vlad the Impaler, Adam Murphy does not shy away from controversial guests. Phoenix readers and regulars chip in and suggest new guests for the strip and always come up with some corkers.

Here then is a great strip to champion the educational side of comics (which is what I tried to explain to Charlotte's teacher once she'd breathed in and out of a brown paper bag a few times and realised that Charlotte wasn't trying to share some epic zombie graphic novel during her recent Phoenix-comic-based Show and Tell).

Kids and adults will learn a great deal from Corpse Talk, with a goodly dose of tongue in cheek humour and outright cheekiness. So if you've ever dreamed of finding out just what colour underpants Genghis Khan wore, or whether Laurel and Hardy really got on with each other, tip a wink to Adam Murphy and he'll probably find out.

Work.
Of.
Genius!

"Corpse Talk Season 1" is available from the fabulous Phoenix Book Store.

Charlotte's best bit: A rather worrying and salacious curiosity about Vlad III! Eeks!

Daddy's Favourite bit: It's the most bonkers idea for a comic strip and yet it works so utterly brilliantly. Adam is a star, and we can't wait for Season 2. Just get out there and GEDDIT!

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books)

With a huge dash of derring-do, the world's coolest quiff, and puzzles to mangle your brain and beat it into submission, Von Doogan stars in his very first adventure puzzle collection. The very best (and trickiest) puzzles that kids can wrap their grey matter around have been a running theme in The Phoenix Comic. Charlotte and I usually enjoy working out these tricky little puzzles, which are fiendishly devised and beautifully illustrated by top comic talent Lawrence (Lorenzo) Etherington, one half of the fabulous Etherington Brothers.

We follow Von Doogan on his quest to solve the riddle of the golden monkey, while outwitting dastardly foes (and hopefully not depleting the ozone layer too much keeping that astonishing hairstyle in place!)

Zowie! This looks tricky! Poker Face (Puzzle 6)

I have a terrible admission to make - I keep sneaking off with this one to solve some of the trickier puzzles (and they really are fantastic, everything from working out safe passage through tarantula-infested caves to stacking up cargo in just the right way on a series of trucks).

Having all the puzzles gathered together in one delicious volume is awesome and if this doesn't keep us busy for the entire long summer school holidays, nothing will.

Puzzle 13 - A Clandestine Culinary Cryptogram. Unlucky for you!

"Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey" is available from the fabulous Phoenix Online Store.

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte is convinced that she could actually solve most of the puzzles on her own without my help, and that I just get in the way! Charming!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Absolutely love Von Doogan puzzles, they're like the Times Crossword of comic puzzle sections. No mean feat if you can manage to solve all of these without your brain exploding out of your earhole and crying "Mercy, mercy!"

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books)

For quite some time we've been clamouring for The Phoenix to do an annual but we'll settle for their latest plan for world domination instead. "The Phoenix Presents" series is a collection of some of the best strips from the mighty Phoenix Comic, lovingly bound and collected together to consume in one huge splurge-fest.

Charlotte is a huge Phoenix fan (even recently using the comic as the basis for her friday morning "Show and Tell" at school, which apparently went very well and met with lots of "oohs" and "ahhs" from her class - which is what we LOVE to hear!)

From the deep dark woods to the outer reaches of space. Bunny vs Monkey knows no bounds!

One of Charlotte's favourite strips is "Bunny vs Monkey" which is actually quite difficult to describe really. The frenetic talents of Jamie Smart, kid's comic genius and contributor to some of the best-loved comics on the planet (including, of course, The Phoenix) poured into a strip that's one part "Animal Farm" to ten parts "Rambo", whizzed up in a liquidiser until chaos ensues.

Collecting together "Year One" in the lives of the strange woodland animals, such as Bunny, Monkey, Metal Steve, Pig and Action Beaver (!), the strip has always been hilarious and quite, quite mad.

In the grand tradition of the greatest British comic strips, Jamie's characters are always ending up in the stickiest of situations (mostly through their own bizarre agendas). Kids absolutely soak up anything that successfully spins together abject naughtiness and grossness, Bunny vs Monkey does that in spades.

"Choooom" is a word I'm going to try and work into every meeting today...!

If you're playing catchup and have yet to experience the sheer delight of Phoenix Friday, when your very own copy of the comic drops through your door clad in the best mailing envelope ever - here's a chance to get in on the ground floor, grab a collection of the very best Bunny vs Monkey, and get set for its glorious return to the weekly mag soon. How on earth Jamie Smart finds the time to do all this stuff beats the heck out of me, but we're so glad he does!

"Bunny vs Monkey - Year 1" by Jamie Smart is available from the fabulous Phoenix Online Store. Go geddit!

Charlotte is secretly in love with Metal Steve but thinks he might spurn her affection for not being 'metal' enough.

Daddy's Favourite bit: Frantic, crazed, chaotic, fabulous and funny as heck. We LOVE it!

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books)